Remember when Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Letroy Guion got arrested and local law enforcement dickwads quickly distributed photos of a table full of Guion’s cash, weed and gun so that he looked like a drug kingpin?
Once we found out some facts — namely, that the money was from his Packers paychecks and the gun was registered in another state and not loaded — Guion suddenly didn’t look so kingpinish.
No, instead, the Starke, Florida police who arrested Guion looked like overzealous pigs.
But there’s good reason for that, you see.
In addition to the $190,000 in cash that was seized, the cops also have possession of Guion’s $60,000 truck. Those are part of a civil forfeiture case being decided this week. In other words, does “drug kingpin” Letroy Guion get to keep his possessions, which he probably earned through hard work, or do they get forfeited to the Starke Police Department?
If Guion loses the civil forfeiture case, the police will get to sell his truck and use the proceeds from that, along with all of his cash, to buy whatever they want under the guise of “community improvement.”
“If we ultimately win the case here, the money has to be used to enhance law enforcement of any kind,” said Starke Police Chief Jeff Johnson. These enhancements include new equipment and vehicles the department would be able to use, Johnson said.
Guion’s truck is worth enough to buy three patrol cars, Johnson said.
Wait a second, what is that smell?
Ah, yes.
It’s bullshit.
How soon after stopping Guion do you think these pigs realized they could subsidize their whole department for years to come by turning this guy into a drug kingpin?
Who wants some overtime!?!
the Starke, Florida police dept. is a joke… backwoods and corrupt !. not saying his choices were good. but they are just seeking 10 min. of fame and his money
I have been through there many times, the prison there is Bundy’s last stop. They ALWAYS have speed traps set up and bust you for 5 over. Don’t speed in Starke they are out to get you. He was weaving and got busted in the wrong town. But near a pound of weed in the car didn’t help his case.
Hey: this is the law. If you possess felony drug amounts in your vehicle, the vehicle becomes subject to seizure. If he did not have this a felony amount of drugs in his vehicle he would not be in this situation. the police are doing what they are supposed to be doing…like it or not. I personally like it. What better way to fund a police department but through felony drug arrests. So you’d rather pay more taxes and leave the drug dealers alone. Cmon Man!!
Did you know that your private property can be seized and kept by police, even though you have not been charged with a crime? You may be totally innocent of any wrongdoing, but police and state prosecutors can still grab your home, vehicles, bank account and any cash you may have available-everything you own.
However, where money is involved, greed grows. In 1985, the U. S. Department of Justice created the Asset Forfeiture Fund. The following year, the DOJ received more than $93 million dollars worth of forfeited funds and property. According to Forbes Magazine, that escalated to one billion dollars by 2008.
Oh yea…next time you are in trouble and need help..call a drug dealer!
top brick ^ … You’re the kind of little bitch that probably got made fun of in school… The guy isn’t a drug dealer, and your mouth probably smells like bacon from all the pig D you blow…
easy killer!
One party possesses a plant. One party takes a quarter of a million dollars cash and prizes from the other party. Party 1 is the “criminal.” How fucking backward.
Ain’t that the truth. But if he had a trunk full of vodka everything would have been totally different because alcohol doesn’t have the potential to be addictive and destructive, right? That’s why it’s legal and has the NFL’s stamp of approval, not because of billions of corporate dollars.
Alcohol- “drink responsibly.”
Weed- “if you even think about pot we’re seizing all your possessions and tossing your ass in prison.”
It would have been totally different because the cops would have drunk the Vodka already. No evidence, no crime.
Did he earn the money and truck from hard work? Or did he buy it with drug money?
Now you understand the intent of the law. Shit happens when you possess a large amount of illegal drugs and a gun and get caught.
Don’t worry. He’ll have a high-priced lawyer and get off easy, I’m sure. We’ll see if he manages to plea down both felony charges. He will have to if he wants to avoid a sizable suspension from the NFL and ever play for the Packers again.
Um if he is able to plead down to misdemeanor possession, therefore eliminating the attempt to distribute charge, then on what basis do the fucking pigs get to keep his money and vehicle? Oh yeah the basis of the state will do whatever the fuck it wants.
Fucking cops around Green Bay drive in newer Dodge Chargers, Avengers, and decked out GMC Envoys. Why would a city with such a small population (relative to say Chicago) need such nice vehicles for them fuck heads to drive around it? Oh yeah, its paid for from supposed drug seizures. What fucking joke.
Guy who worked for me at my restaurant was caught with a camera roll container that had 2 large buds in it, and 1000k in cash. He had that much cash because he had just won a settlement for his hip injury and was on way to pay his mortgage (I know this is true because he used to cash a check out of our office and take a 30 minute break to run and pay his house payment).
Even though he was able to plead to Possession, he lost his $30,000 truck and his mortgage payment. His lawyer from Milwaukee told him “sorry man, that just how it works these days in WI”.
But yeah keep sticking up for the fucking cops.
Some don’t think their should be any laws, or at least not the ones they dislike. Hopefully your local police department has you on some watch list, a cop hater from the word GO.
Sorry, it’s not illegal to hate the cops, asshole.
Oh and Guion will lose. I remember employee telling me that his lawyer told him before his property hearing that “noone wins these hearings…”
Im sure its the same there..
Um…I know, lets ride around in our $60,000 car with a gun, a huge amount of cash and a felony amount of drugs today!! If we get caught nothing should happen to us because were not really drug dealers. These dang police just keep harassing innocent people.
If in fact he didn’t have any packaging materials and a scale, and if he doesn’t have any priors, and he can prove the cash came from his payroll checks, which seems to be true. A public defender could get him off on a misdemeanor.
Now…If that doesn’t happen. I have no sympathy for this cat. If you want to risk driving around with 3/4 of a pound of weed, that’s on him. It’s a decision he made, nobody else. It’s a risk he was willing to take.
When your agent is negotiating a contract that will pay you 10-12 million, and you “decide” it’s a good idea to possess and drive around with all that weed. Then you’re throwing away a lottery ticket.
You can’t fix stupid.
Yes, I can see the drug charge reduced to a misdemeanor, no problem. However, what about the gun charge?
The fact that it is illegal to possess a gun and illegal drugs at the same time is pretty cut and dry. Not sure what they can do with that.
Guion is a idiot for transporting the drugs. It would be interesting to see if the police pulled Guion over for a spot check. Police car cameras would show if Guion was not maintaining lane as claimed. If the police pulled Guion over for just a spot check (illegal detention) and video should document if that is the case, then Guions attorney may petition the court to suppress the evidence (pot).
I have not heard that Guion was arrested for DUI. If he was not arrested for DUI it does raise the question if he should have been detained in the first place. It would not be the first time police pulled someone over for no reason to inspect. That action can result in suppression of evidence by the courts.
The thing is the law allows cops to simply say “I smelled the scent of majiuana.” This immedietely gives them consent to investigate. Of course this is absolutely impossible to prove. How can you prove that the cop DIDNT smell it? And when it comes to he said/she said, cops win every time.
So you pull over a large black man and you pretend you smell weed. You can search them every time…
It has been proven in court you have to have a reason to pull the vehicle over in the first place. If the police pull the vehicle over for no reason all evidence after that can be suppressed including smelling pot. If the police department uses cameras on there vehicles and it proves Guion was not maintaining his lane then Guion is toast. If there is a camera and it was turned off or shows Guion was driving within the law, the judge may frown on the police and possibly suppress evidence. If the police do not use cameras then Guion has a problem because you are correct the judge will take the word of the officer over Guion.
Is it just me or does it not seam odd that there is no DUI charge against Guion? Maybe there is a charge and I just have not heard or seen that bit of news.
no doubt what he did is ridiculously stupid, however I firmly believe this is a case where the law is being bent to suit the jurisdiction. This is a disturbing trend that’s happening far too often these days
That may be true, but how about, not putting yourself in the situation to begin with?
The ability to “think” should not be overrated.
When i was 19, after my 1st and only DUI. I learned to think. Whenever i do anything, that questionable, i always think of the possible ramifications, BEFORE i proceed.
So Guion was pulled over for failure to maintain lane. There was a strong smell of pot but no charge of DUI? If there was no DUI charge the police may have pulled Guion over for no reason and used the old failure to maintain lane as a reason to inspect.
Easy to understand why the cops do it, not easy to reconcile it to the situation.
Zero tolerance laws are the brainchild of those lacking one.
Why is it that people make more noise about people making noise about corruption, than the corruption itself?? FUCK THA POLICE.
Yeah there are investigations into this shit – cops keeping the money and having parties with it, doing whatever they want with it… fucking chickenshit cops. Never met a good one.
Thing is even the few good ones are corrupt. Why? Because even good cops believe in the Blue Wall of Silence. So they turn a blind eye to their fellow officers corruption making them guilty by association.